Retired UTSA art professor Stephen Reynolds dies

(March 14, 2007)--Stephen Reynolds, 67, a retired UTSA art faculty member and ceramics artist, died Thursday, March 8 at his home north of Boerne. His death came approximately eight months after learning he had a brain tumor, according to his wife, Daphne Reynolds.

"His death is a major loss for the art community," said Kent Rush, UTSA professor and chair of the Department of Art and Art History. "Steve's work was amazing, beautiful and poetic."

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Born January 25, 1940, in Toledo, Ohio, Reynolds was dedicated to the creation of art and art education for more than 40 years. He was a UTSA professor of art and sculpture from 1977 until his retirement in 2005.

He taught most recently as an endowed chair professor at the University of Texas - Pan American in Edinburg, and also taught at Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Wisconsin, Texas Tech University, Scripts College and Odessa College.

According to a recent San Antonio Express-News article, Reynolds was an influential San Antonio ceramist known worldwide. He spent most of his life finding ways to break free of a traditional concept of ceramics and used his experience and passion to help many young artists in their creative searches.

Reynolds' last San Antonio solo shows were in 2005 at the Southwest School of Art and Craft and the Joan Grona Gallery. He exhibited last year in Portland, Ore., and Tucson, Ariz. His work is in permanent collections in Australia, Hungary and across the United States.

Reynolds was president from 1998 to 2004 of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts. He was a Fulbright Fellow in Hungary in 1991 and was one of only two U.S. ceramists invited to work in Norway's 120-year-old Porsgrunn porcelain factory. Four years ago, he was one of a few ceramic artists from North America elected to the prestigious International Academy of Ceramics in Geneva, Switzerland.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the Steve Reynolds Scholarship in Ceramics, UTSA Department of Art and Art History, One UTSA Circle, San Antonio, Texas, 78249.